Never Too Early: When to Start Marketing My Book as an Author

Have you ever heard the saying, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now"? The same applies to  book marketing.  Many authors mistakenly believe that book marketing and promotion begins after the book is written and published. But the truth is, I tell authors to start marketing their book the minute they decide they want to write a book.  

This blog post is your one-stop guide to understanding what book marketing truly is and how you, as an author of adult non-fiction (think cookbooks, self-help, business guides), children's books (picture books, middle grade), or even romance novels, can market your own book. 

We'll break down the misconception that book marketing is merely holding up a copy of your book and posting that on social media.  I will share the key things that will help you market your book: 

• Identify and find your readers + community

• Build relationships 

• Establish yourself as an expert

Ultimately, attracting a loyal community eager to get their hands on your work.

By the end of this post, you'll be equipped with actionable tips and a clear roadmap to navigate the exciting world of book and author marketing. 

What is Book Marketing, Really? And How You Can Start Now.

Book marketing goes beyond holding up your book and shouting, "Buy this!" 

It's about fostering genuine connections with your target audience and readers. It's about understanding their needs, desires, and pain points. It's about building trust and demonstrating your expertise in a way that resonates with them. Ultimately, it's about creating a community around your book and your message.

Finding Your Ideal Readers

The first part of being able of book marketing is knowing who you want to market to.  Marketing is really telling people that you exist, what you are interested in and that you wrote a book.   

So how do you find your ideal readers?  Think about where they “hang out.” This could be hanging out in person or online.  Start exploring.  Maybe some of your readers are hanging out on Instagram, Discord, Reddit, community groups, etc.  

Finding where your readers and community are is one of the most crucial parts of book marketing your book.  

Pro Tip: I’m going to be real honest with you here.  If you think your book is for everyone. It’s actually for no one.  Think about when you were writing your book. Who was it for? Was it really for every mom out there? Or the mom who felt overwhelmed by her career, her kids and taking care of her parents.  She doesn’t want someone to give her more to do lists and checklists but wants something to help reframe this season she’s going through. See the difference? 

Action Item: Identify who your reader is! Be as specific as possible.  Even give him/her a name.  After you’ve done this, think creatively about where this person would “hang out.” Go there. When you create content, think about this person and create it for this person.  

Connecting with Your Audience: Building Relationships helps your Author Marketing

What I’ve seen over the years is that authors who have built relationships and their author platform are the ones who have the most success.  Building relationships with people in your industry, your peers and your readers is the base of your author platform. You can’t market in a vacuum.  

So how exactly do you “build relationships”?  Well you have to spend some time being in the space where your readers are. Practically this looks like, connecting with people, engaging with people and being there for people.  In other terms, this is building your author platform. 

This might feel weird and I know this is a somewhat unusual opinion on marketing, but marketing is all about building relationships and relationships are built one at a time.  

Quick story: I worked with a cookbook author on his debut cookbook.  He had about 85k followers on Instagram when we first started working together. This is by no means a small following, but he wanted his book to compete with books where the author had 1M+ followers on Instagram.  So for the sake of this conversation, let’s say he has a moderate amount of people following him.  

He knew his audience so intimately.  He knew what type of content they loved from him. He knew exactly why people liked following him versus other food content creators.  He knew which videos would go wild (in a good way).  This was because he spent time getting to know his audience. He looked at his stats and also spent time talking/messaging/engaging with his community.  

How did this pay off for his book launch? He was able to create so much hype and buzz around his book.  When he announced his book - he had phenomenal preorders. This really got the attention of his publisher and showed them how he was able to create interest and sales.  

Long story short, his book sold over 30k copies in the first year and was championed by big account like Barnes + Noble and Cost Plus.  

Pro Tip: Aside from writing your book, building relationships is the most time consuming thing about the publishing process.  When you’re creating rapport online, you need to give it time.  Not everyone is going to see or read everything you write.  People need to get to know you.  Give them that opportunity by being there! 

Action Item: If you’re not sure where to even begin doing this, start small. You already have a community, start by engaging with them.  Whether your following is 100k or 100, engage with the people already in your life.  It could be sending an email to the person you met at an industry conference, it could be sending an article to an old colleague or it could be engaging with someone else’s content.  

Building Author Authority: Positioning Yourself as a Thought Leader

Know. Like and Trust. This is a very famous/common line that marketers use… I mean I use it all the time.  What does it actually mean? Someone (aka your ideal reader) must know, like and trust you before they will buy your book (or any of your other products) from you. Doing this will help you in book marketing.  

So the question is how do you brand yourself as the expert? Show people. Of course, saying this is easier than doing it. Let me give you an example. 

Story Time: A doctor + professor was invited to do a TV segment about a very specific health topic. She prepared and nailed it on TV. She was then asked again and again to the tune of 300 times. You read that right, she spoke 300+ time on TV and news segments.  Clearly, she knew what she was talking about and was a credible resource for producers and news outlets.  

This author didn’t start off this way. She had to build up her presence and show people at the news stations that she knew what she was talking about. She did her research and practiced before her segments.  She was able to answer questions about the topic.  She literally showed people she was the expert.  

Bringing this back to her book launch, because of this experience, she was asked to be on so many high profile podcasts (Top 10 podcasts) and TV shows (morning shows + coveted talk shows).  She was asked to comment on specific health topics because the producers knew she was credible and could answer any questions the host threw at her.  

Pro Tip: I get it. Being an “expert” is so vague. Of course you think you’re an expert already at the topic you’re writing a book about.  And when you’re putting yourself out there, you might feel like you’re saying the same thing all the time. But this is ok.  Repetition is ok… its even wanted.  People need to see you and the value you create many times before they take action.  

When Reese Witherspoon started her book club in 2017 with Eleanor Ophiliant Is Completely Fine. It was just that - a start. She continued sharing her monthly picks and now, her book club is one of the biggest celebrity ones out there. After years, her book club picks now get special promotion and covers and more.  Many of her book club picks have even been turned into movies and TV shows.   

Her book club was also one of the first celebrity book clubs.  She kept talking about books and her picks and even why she loved books so much and now… well, she’s known as an expert in book clubs.  

Action Item: Create the content, the art and the value you want to be known for.  Want to be known for creating vegan Thai food? Create vegan Thai dishes and share them.  Create them again and share them again.  Answer people’s questions.  Help people see how they too can create vegan Thai food.  

Your Author Marketing Journey Starts Now: Embrace the Possibilities

A common thread you probably see by now is that author and book marketing takes time.  Unfortunately it can’t be done in a day.  It all takes time.  

And, the benefit of taking these book marketing strategies and applying them to your book launch is that you’ll know so much. You’ll know who exactly to talk to in your content and outreach.  You’ll know why these readers are attracted to your social media, email, brand and YOU.  You’ll know what your readers are looking for and why you are the exact right person to deliver this information to them.  

As you’re working through these book marketing plans and strategies, know that you’re on the right track.  If you’re looking for more in-depth help, I’ve detailed out what authors are ideally are doing in the year before their book launch in The Author’s Agenda.  I italicize ideally because that its - an ideal.  Every author and book are different.  Thus, every author and book marketing plan will be different.  I’m here to give you all the info you need so that you’re excited to market your book so that your book can get out into the world.